I listened to several albums that are familiar to me last night to try to get a handle on the Silver Poison cable I bought for the HD800 Headphones. Unfortunately I also made another change muddying the picture...a 1962 RCA Black Plate 5814a in the 12AU7 spot in the ZP3.

I did play one new LP...the new copy of "Stone Flower" from Dusty Grove.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

I listened to several albums that are familiar to me last night to try to get a handle on the Silver Poison cable I bought for the HD800 Headphones. Unfortunately I also made another change muddying the picture...a 1962 RCA Black Plate 5814a in the 12AU7 spot in the ZP3.

I did play one new LP...the new copy of "Stone Flower" from Dusty Grove.

Lon, I liked it...just not sure how much. I'll have to listen to it again. As you know I often prefer acoustic piano...there's lots of electric piano on this. I've already pulled my LP copy of "Wave" and I'm pretty sure I have "Tide" somewhere. Did Jobim record any others on CTI under his name? Mark.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

No, just Stone Flower to my knowledge for CTI. One of the A&M was made contemporaneously with Stone Flower. Tide, I believe (without checking it out to be sure).

I do love electric piano (so fun to play!) so that may be one reason I love this album so much, but i think the arrangements are so cool and I love some of the versions here, especially Song of the Sabia. The album has really grown on me over the years.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

Yeah Mark, those Sphere lps are great (I have them on cd, no longer on lp). I think Mosaic did a great job on the Jazz Crusaders set. They hired Malcolm Addey to remix and master the set and there's like over a dozen lps in that set I think, and they sound both consistent and damned good across the set.

Right before I went to bed I put some John Lee Hooker on the stereo and he said to let that boy boogie. So I put on some Hot Tuna, LOUD when I got here this afternoon.

And then I got a delivery of a Helen Merrill date I never had and finally found a good priced copy of, so I'm going to pretend Christmas was just around the corner for an hour.

Helen always transports me somewhere mellow and nice. The engineers and producers should have received an award for this one in '91. Beautiful sound on this cd. (I have the earlier JVC, not the 2010).

Lon, now you've done it...you set off a "Velvet Fog" attack! If you told me I'd enjoy Mel in College, I would have told you "You are crazy...Never", same with Sinatra and Musical Theater. But once I got to my mid 30's and 40's I began appreciating Jazz vocals and Musicals. Funny how that happened.

I looked for the duet with Helen and Mel on you tube....no luck. I'm sure it's wonderful. Mark.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

I have to tell you. The stock tubes in the CSP3 and Taboo with the ancillary equipment I've described is about just what I want. The LCD's with the Silver Widow cables is just about the perfect mix of detail and warmth to my ears. Now if I could just warm the HD800's a little. There is a mod that someone over at HeadFi told me about I may try...putting a circle of felt inside the ear cups is what it seems to amount to. It is supposed to decrease treble brightness. This might be the easiest and cheapest way to solve my problem with the HD800's.

PS...for anyone else who has the same "Brightness" problem with the HD800s , here's a link to an analysis of and instructions on the Mod.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

Both good ones. I've been collecting her stuff a few decades, she's very different from other singers and I think she has great taste in material and personnel. I really like the albums she did with Dick Hyman.

I have a question. When I'm going to take a break of two hours or so from listening, is it better to turn everything off and then back on 15 minutes prior to resuming listening or just leave everything on? Which is worse for tubes the extra on off cycle or the extra time on? Mark.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

I'm not going to get any listening in today but I am going to watch this tonight...Great PerformancesEpisode: Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall(First Aired: Mar. 03, 2012)Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a fully-staged production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ``The Phantom of the Opera,'' from London's Royal Albert Hall.

Also, today I picked up the below 2009 CD reissue...Remaster? of the UK Stereo edition of "Rubber Soul". Listened to it on the way home from work. Mark.

PS...When I got home the 23 LP, Mosaic Record's Set..."The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings" Vol. 1 of 3, was on my door step. I haven't opened it yet.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare